Kentucky Blows Lead in Late Innings, Loses to U of L 7-6

Kentucky had archrival Louisville on the ropes in the second meeting between the two teams last night, but it was the Cardinals who dealt the knockout blow against the Bat Cats in the final innings.

Zach Reks’ RBI double to right field opened the scoring for UK in the 1st inning.

The Wildcats extended their lead to two runs after Evan White crossed the plate thanks to a Gunnar McNeill RBI ground out.

Zach Logue did a tremendous job keeping Louisville off the board for almost five innings, the highlight of which was when he worked his way out of a jam in the bottom of the 2nd. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Cardinals with only one out. Logue cooley retired two straight batters to end the the threat. He went to the bench after 5th after having allowed a run, six hits and a walk to go along with two strikeouts.

Leading 2-1 in the top of the 7th inning, Kentucky’s next run came in the form of a Riley Mahan sacrifice fly that brought. Javon Shelby home. A batter later, Evan White’ single drove in another run. Then Storm Wilson singled through gap to right field to extend UK’s lead to 5-1.

The good times didn’t even get to flow for an entire inning because in the bottom of the 7th Louisville made their move, first scoring on tag up on an infield groundout and then again after Corey Ray hit a two run blast off of Zach Pop.

Kentucky answered the next inning thanks to another sacrifice fly, this time from Marcus Carson.

The Cards knotted the score at 6 in the bottom of the 8th thanks to an RBI double from Danny Rosenbaum, who scored the tying run after a wild pitch just two batters later.

In the top of the 9th, Evan White bunted and got on base with one out. Neither of the two batters, Wilson and McNeill, were able to take advantage though and left him stranded on base.

A walk and a single, put Louisville in prime scoring position in the bottom of the 9th. Devin Hairston strode to the plate with one out and came through in the clutch. His single drove in the winning run and gave Louisville their second straight victory over the Bat Cats this season.

With the loss, Kentucky dropped to 23-13 on the season. They look to rebound with a three game home stand against Arkansas beginning this Thursday.